Levo Gen 4 Has anyone been riding their Gen 4 with the range extender only?

[Myke]

Looking for some reviews on how the power feels, range and bike handling. Please post your weight and general fitness level for range reviews.

 

[Baron]

I picked up mine today but apparently there’s a UK shortage of the power leads so dealers aren’t supplying anymore RE,s until further notice

 

[cleoent]

I got a ride in extender only. Feels very very similar, power wise, to my SL 2 but with worse range. I’m 170 pounds. Got just under 2k feet full turbo.

 

[unclezz]

I got a ride in extender only. Feels very very similar, power wise, to my SL 2 but with worse range. I’m 170 pounds. Got just under 2k feet full turbo.

View attachment 160826

What about handling? How did it feel?

 

[cleoent]

Bike handles great either way. Didn’t notice a difference.

 

[ccornacc]

Bike handles great either way. Didn’t notice a difference.

What was the weight and how would you compare the handling to your SL2? Do you plan on keeping the SL2 or riding that much now that you have this option?

Thanks!

 

[DuncanDoughnuts]

On the SL if I put any power down over 300 watts it feels like there is nothing coming from the bike.... You have to spin with low leg power to get anything from the motor.

Does the Gen4 with the range extender do the same ? or do you at least get some Assistence when putting in high watts?

 

[Jeff McD]

My best friend has the GEN4 pro model and I bought the comp model. We have a top of the mountain ride with 4000 feet of ascending, along with additional 600 feet of climbing when going down. He wanted to try doing most of it with a range extender only. He has been saying exactly what others have described in that with only the range extender you still feel like you have plenty of support it's just not quite as much as a full fat bike so you are using more of your leg power. More importantly, just like with the 840 battery as long as you can keep the cranks turning no matter how slowly it will still keep the power going to the motor. It does not die as easily as the GEN3.
He used his 840 battery for the first thousand feet of ascending then changed it out for only the range extenders (For this experiment he was using his range extender plus mine, carried in his backpack). He was able to climb the remaining 3000 feet to the top and then descend back to the start on the two range extenders switching them out partway up to the summit, and finishing with the second one still in. He described the assist as still very significant but just not as strong as w/ the larger battery, more like the lightweight assist bikes. He was still surprised at how much support there is however. I have yet to try mine as it just arrived but will be riding it this week. What I personally noticed was that he was still really hard to keep up with while just using the range extender haha.

 

[Eduardoramundo]

I haven’t tried RE only yet, but getting around 2,000-2,100m ascent with both batteries in Turbo. I’m 84kg.

Would obviously get a lot more ascent in Eco or Trail.

 

[ccornacc]

Any other reports from the field on riding with the RE only?

 

[DirkWisely]

I rode it with the RE only just up/down the hill in my neighborhood. It definitely still feels like it's giving you lots of assist. Noticeably more than the Trek Fuel EXe which I rode for a day as a loaner. I'm sure it won't last for long rides at those assist levels though. I think if you were very weight conscious (maybe you throw the bike around more than I do), and you did the right kind of riding where you do multiple loops, it'd be a very valid (if expensive) option to have a couple REs you swap out at your car between laps.

 

[ccornacc]

I rode it with the RE only just up/down the hill in my neighborhood. It definitely still feels like it's giving you lots of assist. Noticeably more than the Trek Fuel EXe which I rode for a day as a loaner. I'm sure it won't last for long rides at those assist levels though. I think if you were very weight conscious (maybe you throw the bike around more than I do), and you did the right kind of riding where you do multiple loops, it'd be a very valid (if expensive) option to have a couple REs you swap out at your car between laps.

Thanks for this!

I have a Levo SL that my typical rides are 2-3hrs using 40-60% in microtune and usually have 30-40% battery left, so was trying to compare those types of rides to what’s possible with the Levo 4 with just the RE.

I just got my S-Works Gen 4 frame and a RE, so I’ll be building it up next week and have some ride reports back as well!

 

[TorAtle]

With the range extender only, you still have full torque but the motor is power limited to about 350 watts. In turbo it will feel strong off the line but hit that power limit really fast. So either soft pedal at a slower pace or use less assistance and put in more effort yourself.

I'm considering getting the RE for long rides, accepting the Levo is now a 27kg bike.

 

[DirkWisely]

An ~8% increase in weight to get some truly epic rides done is a tradeoff I'm happy to make.

 

[DirkWisely]

Did one of my regular rides with just the RE this morning.

https://www.strava.com/activities/15333601342/overview

This left me at ~3% left on the RE. I rode the whole way in 30/100 microtune. Motor was pulling at full power all the way to 3%.
It was good. I certainly had to work harder, but the power/torque were sufficient to still have a good time and not suffer too badly on the climbs. Especially on the technical singletrack uphills it felt very good. I was getting gassed more from the physicality of fighting my way up rocky trails than from just pedalling effort.

The lighter weight was a bit noticeable on the rock gardens, where it felt a bit like it rode more over the rocks vs crashing through them. This could be placebo, and I'd want to do a back to back ride one right after the other to be sure.

Overall, I'd consider doing this again if I want to do a relatively short ride and work harder on the climbs.

 

[DuncanDoughnuts]

What’s the drag on the motor like wjen it does run out?

 

[Ushtang]

I have the RE and use it alone without the main battery only for bike park days as Specialize suggests in their promo video for the RE. The Levo feel more nimble to me for bike park riding. Although the RE locks into the bottle cage, there is still an audible rattle which I suspect is from the RE hitting the bottle cage on really rough terrain at high speeds.

I don't know if this is an issue with normal trail riding.

 

[Prmulligan]

I too have heard the rattle, but it's not all the time. It locks in pretty well. I also feel that the bike is way more nimble. I actually removed a click of high speed compression from the 38 and found that even on bigger drops I wasn't bottoming out. The torque is really there when you need it. Although it's not as powerful as the bigger batteries I was able to do a climb that I really struggle with on my sl2. With a 4 mile climb in turbo of 1800' (which I then rode back down) I finished at 20+ percent. It's sick. I love my kenevo sl2 too much to get rid of it, but the Gen 4 really is a 1 bike quiver